


Best Served Cold

by AvocadoLove



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Dark Tony Stark, Friendship, Gen, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), dark bucky barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 13:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8625595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvocadoLove/pseuds/AvocadoLove
Summary: Tony is captured and imprisoned in RAFT after Civil War.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one-shot, with no plans for a sequel. 
> 
> Also, I have the feeling people are going to be on my ass for 'Steve bashing'. Welp, this fic is told from Tony's POV and he doesn't have the best feelings about Steve right now. Character thoughts does not equal author's thoughts. I'll leave it at that.

One moment, Tony was passing out in the bowels of a hellhole in Siberia—Bleeding, concussed, and more than a little heart broken.

  
The next thing he was aware of, he woke as Ross's ‘guest’ in RAFT prison. Irony was one of the curses in Tony’s life.

  
But unlike Clint, Tony recognized the truth when he saw it. He had broken the Accords. And, as big of a pain in the ass it was, there were consequences. He had signed his name on the dotted line.

  
(It didn’t matter he had broken them to save Steve. He had played his stupid game, and won his stupid prize.)

A couple weeks later, when the lights to his cell went dim and Tony heard yelling from panicked guards, he knew Captain America had arrived to spring his friends.

The next few minutes were spent pacing (Tony had never been able to sit still and this twelve by ten cell was as much of a torture as the prison grade food) and wondering exactly how he would play it when Steve opened the door. Bitter? Casual? Repentant? No, the Accords may have landed him here, but he was the one who had broken them. Tony didn't regret that though there were reasons to regret almost everything else.

He waited. The door never opened.

The lights eventually returned, and guards went from panicked back to business as usual. No one came by to update him on what was going on. Why would they? He was just another a prisoner awaiting trial.

  
But Tony was a genius. Captain America and friends had flown the coop. They must not have known he was here at all.

(Deep in his heart, Tony wasn't sure if he should be grateful or not. He hadn't decided on what he would — what he _should_ say when he saw Steve's face again. A friend who had kept one of the biggest secrets of Tony's life from him, while lecturing Tony about keeping secrets. A friend who was besties with his mother's murderer.)

Yes, in the cold, sober light of day, Tony knew Barnes wasn't wholly at fault. His poor, reconstructed heart still felt bruised, though.

Tony didn't know how much time had passed before the lights went out again. A few days, but less than a week judging by the frequency of his meals.

This time, when it went dark inside his cell, there was no outcry from the guards. Whoever had broken in this time made less of a fuss.  
The cell door slid open, and Tony found himself face-to-face with the Winter Soldier. 

"Fancy meeting you here." It wasn't as pithy as Tony would've liked, but he was inwardly reeling from shock.

James Barnes looked very much the same as he had in Siberia, minus the metal arm. That was Tony's fault, but he didn't feel guilty for it. Barnes had shaved his hobo beard down to manageable stubble, and tied his hair back so it looked less 90s grunge. 

Tony hated to admit it, but it was a good look.

Barnes didn't speak right away, so Tony added, "Steve sent you? He didn't want to come, himself?"

"Steve doesn't know I am here."

That took Tony by surprise. And his lightning-quick mind flashed up a couple of reasons why. "Because you’re here to finish the job you started in ‘92?" If he was, there wasn't anything Tony could do to stop him. Tony was unarmed, still banged up from a superhero brawl, and on the wrong side of forty to boot. He was outclassed in every way except for pop-culture knowledge. 

Barnes's his eyes flicked around the cell for a moment, then settled on Tony. "I wanted to ask you a question."

There was nothing Barnes could ask that Tony wanted to answer. But Tony bit back on saying it aloud, and made himself shrug. "Make it snappy. I'm a busy man."

"When you became Iron Man, you made it your mission to track down and destroy weapons that had been sold to terrorist organizations. You wanted revenge and was seeking atonement." Barnes paused. "Did it work?"

"What kind of question is that?" Tony snarled.

Barnes said nothing. Only waited.

Tony knew what he should say. Pretty words that someone like, say, Captain America would come up with. Something along the lines that revenge never brings happiness, that violence begets more violence.

But Tony was tired of Captain America's hypocrisy. In this prison cell, he had come to some hard truths. "Yes. It helped. And it was why I could never take off the suit for long." Not even when he had to choose between Pepper and Iron Man.

Barnes nodded. He seemed satisfied, though there was no real expression on his face.

Barnes spoke, "Steve knew you were here, but choose to leave you behind when he rescued the others. He had his reasons, and he thinks he's doing the right thing. I don't agree."

Tony hated the betrayal that twisted inside of his chest. Why wasn't he used to it by now? Especially, when it came to Steve? "Yeah," he said lamely. "I'm sure he found a way to justify it for the greater good. It's what he does."

  
Finally, an expression. Half a smile twisted up the side of Barnes's mouth. "He was always a stubborn son of a bitch. His way, or the highway. I followed him, but that was more than seventy years ago. I figure it's time I forged a new highway."

"This is the part where you tell me you're going to the dark side?" Tony still wasn't one-hundred percent sure the Winter Soldier wasn't there to kill him.

Barnes shook his head. "Here's the part I tell you that I want revenge. The way I see it, I have two choices: Put myself back in cryo, and hope Steve or someone some other smart fella can figure out a way to deprogram me. Or, I can take a pound of flesh out of the son’s of bitches who did this to me."

"Good plan. So, why are you here, Barnes?"

Barnes tapped the side of his head with his remaining hand. "I'm still messed up in here. I need someone who can take me out if things go south again. I figure you and your fancy suit of yours could do it, and you wouldn't think twice. You’ve seen what the Winter Soldier can do."

Tony almost laughed. “You want to be my sidekick? 

"I'm older. Technically you would be mine."

He ignored that. Tony had been at the negotiation table when he was at his father's knee. Contrary to popular belief, he knew how to ignore obvious bait. "Why should I?"

"Revenge for your parents. Doing one last bit of good by wiping the evil from the world before the Accords close that noose around your neck?" Barnes cocked an eyebrow. The longer he spoke to Tony, the more expressive he seemed. "You can pick your poison. This is my offer to get you out. Are you in?"

No Avengers to care for. No Steve Rogers to lecture him. No Pepper, or Stark Industries. This would have to be done in the black. Nobody could know that Iron Man was involved. 

He could work with that. Just because he liked flashy, didn't mean he hadn't been developing stealth-suit technology on the sly. 

In answer, Tony stepped from his cell into the hallway. "I'm not your sidekick, Barnes."

"That's fine." Barnes turned away from him, and led his way confidently down the hallway. He must've cleared a path prior to this. Tony couldn't wait to find out how. "I've done the sidekick thing, myself. I'm done with it. I think it was time I had a partner in crime, instead."

For the first time in weeks, Tony smiled.

 

End.


End file.
